Band 5.5 IELTS Writing Task 1 Model Answer

Overall Band Score: 5.5 · Cambridge IELTS 16 · 2026-10-03

IELTS Writing Task 1 question

You have just read an article in a national newspaper which claims that town centres in your country all look very similar to each other. You don't fully agree with this opinion.

Write a letter to the editor of the newspaper. In your letter

• say which points in the article you agree with
• explain ways in which your town centre is different from most other town centres
• offer to give a guided tour of your town to the writer of the article

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Student answer (Band 5.5)

Dear sir,

I am Khushbu. I am writing letter to give you some information about the town centres of my country which you stated in the national newspaper. You said that the downtowns of the Indian cities are looking like same. But I am totally disagree with it.

I would like to tell about the details pf roads and structures you mentioned it, it's an acurate data you gathered. While you talked about the market and local publiv tastes are totally wrong. It seems to me that my city center has different customers because they are habitual to buy an expensive products. So, it has been known for high profile customers. Moreover, the quality of the items are too good. In the future, if you would like to come here, I will happy to give yo guided tour.

I hope you are taking care about these points, next time.

Regards,

Khushbu

AI examiner evaluation

Task Achievement / Task Response: Band 5.5

The response addresses the main parts of the task by mentioning agreement with certain points, explaining differences in the writer's town, and offering a guided tour. However, the development of these ideas is limited and sometimes lacks clarity. For instance, while you state that your town centre has different customers because 'they are habitual to buy an expensive products', the ideas remain somewhat under-developed rather than fully extended. The purpose of the letter is generally conveyed, though the tone and positioning could be more clearly sustained throughout to reach higher requirements.

Coherence and Cohesion: Band 5.5

There is some basic organisation with a clear beginning and ending, and the response is divided into paragraphs. However, there is no clear overall progression of ideas, and cohesive devices are sometimes inadequate or mechanical, such as the abrupt transitions between sentences like 'Moreover, the quality of the items are too good.' Referencing is also occasionally unclear, such as the use of pronouns and demonstratives that disrupt the logical flow between your points about the newspaper article and your local town.

Lexical Resource: Band 5.0

The vocabulary used is limited but minimally adequate to convey the basic message. There are noticeable errors in word choice, collocation, and word form, such as saying 'totally disagree' instead of 'strongly disagree', using 'acurate' with a spelling error, 'publiv' instead of 'public', and awkward phrasing like 'habitual to buy an expensive products'. These lexical inaccuracies and spelling errors cause some difficulty for the reader and reflect a restricted control of appropriate vocabulary.

Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Band 5.0

There is a very limited range of grammatical structures, consisting mostly of simple sentences alongside attempts at complex forms that are often faulty. Frequent errors in grammar include subject-verb agreement issues like 'the quality of the items are', missing articles such as 'give yo guided tour', and prepositional or structural mistakes like 'writing letter to give you'. These frequent errors require the reader to occasionally slow down and can cause difficulty in comprehension.

See this exact question answered at other band scores. The same prompt compared across bands.

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